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2018 Mexico City E-Prix
2018 Santiago E-Prix |next = 2018 Punta del Este E-Prix}} The 2018 Mexico City E-Prix, otherwise known as the 2018 ABB FIA Formula E Mexico City E-Prix, was the fifth round of the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship, held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on 3 March 2018.'More compact Season 4 calendar revealed', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 19/06/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/june/more-compact-season-4-calendar-revealed/, (Accessed 19/06/2017) The E-Prix was the third to be held in Mexico City, and attracted the event's biggest crowd to date.Sam Smith, 'Mexico City Post-Race Notebook', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 04/03/2018), http://e-racing365.com/formula-e/mexico-city-post-race-notebook/, (Accessed 04/03/2018) Qualifying would see Felix Rosenqvist claim his fifth pole position in Formula E, a clean run in Super Pole enough to see him close the gap to Championship leader Jean-Éric Vergne to just two points ahead of the start. Elsewhere, António Félix da Costa briefly qualified on the front row before being excluded from the Super Pole results, while defending Champion Lucas di Grassi found himself at the very back of the grid after a penalty. A relatively tame start to the race saw Rosenqvist take an early lead from Oliver Turvey and Sébastien Buemi, while Daniel Abt charged up to fourth with a move on Nelson Piquet Jr.'Abt finally clinches first victory in Mexico City', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/03/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/march/abt-finally-clinches-first-victory-in-mexico-city/, (Accessed 04/03/2018) There would be the usual bumping and barging lower down the order, Vergne bouncing off the sides of Piquet and da Costa, although the entire field made it through the opening lap without issue. The opening stages proved rather tame up front, with Rosenqvist inching clear of Turvey, while the Brit himself was able to edge away from Buemi. The Swiss racer himself was left to fend off Abt for the time being, while Vergne and Piquet soon joined them once they had dealt with da Costa. Elsewhere, di Grassi and Sam Bird were making little progress at the back of the field, with the nature of the Autódromo circuit making overtaking difficult at best. With ten laps to go before the pitwindow it seemed as if Rosenqvist already had the race sewn up, and so it proved a huge surprise when Turvey appeared at the end of lap fourteen in the lead. This was because the Swede had ground to a halt with power loss, the result of a battery issue that had ruined his efforts in Santiago. Rosenqvist got going again after falling to the back of the field, but two subsequent cutouts effectively ended his race. Turvey, meanwhile, built himself a four second advantage as the pit window approached, but a late charge by Abt saw the German surge past Buemi before taking the lead with a stunningly quick car swap. With the stops completed Abt was left with a commanding lead, leaving Turvey to fight with Vergne, Buemi and Piquet for the rest of the race. Vergne would ultimately drop out of the hunt until the final lap, losing out to Buemi and Piquet, but neither of them could get past the Brit for second, try as they might. Indeed, Buemi had several attempts at taking the NIO as the race drew to its conclusion, but a half-hearted dive on the brakes on the penultimate lap effectively settled the issue. Abt, meanwhile, had been left to cruise home to a maiden E-Prix victory, while Turvey beat Buemi, Piquet and Vergne to the line for second. Elsewhere, di Grassi broke into the top ten after a late charge, collecting fastest lap as he did so to register his first points finish of the season. Bird also managed to get into the top ten, but subsequently fell down the order having made an early stop, while Rosenqvist's teammate Nick Heidfeld joined the Swede on the sidelines on a miserable afternoon for Mahindra Racing. Background Ahead of the return to an unchanged Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez news emerged that defending Champion Lucas di Grassi would take yet another grid penalty, suggesting it was to be another difficult weekend for the Brazilian.Sam Smith, 'Di Grassi Set for Another Grid Penalty in Mexico', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media, LLC., 27/02/2018), http://e-racing365.com/formula-e/di-grassi-hit-with-another-grid-penalt, (Accessed 28/02/2018) As before, the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler crew had been forced to change a part of the inverter system on one of the #1 cars, meaning di Grassi would take a second consecutive ten place grid penalty. This was the third time that Audi had been forced to change the inverter, causing many to speculate that their issues were a result of a bad batch of components. Penalty Payments Elsewhere, both DS Virgin Racing entries were slapped with ten place grid penalties, the Anglo-French effort deciding to replace all four gearboxes on their cars.Valentin Khorounzhiy, 'Lynn gets gearbox change penalty for Mexico', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 01/03/2018), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/lynn-grid-penalty-mexico-1010203/, (Accessed 02/03/2018) The change came as a result of Alex Lynn's retirement in Santiago, where Lynn had retired with a gearbox failure, while teammate Sam Bird suffered from intermittent power cutouts across the weekend.Scott Mitchell, 'Formula E Mexico: DS Virgin drivers get 10-place grid penalties', autosport.com, (Motorsport Network, 02/03/2018), https://www.autosport.com/fe/news/134621/both-ds-virgin-drivers-get-grid-penalties, (Accessed 03/03/2018) The issues had plagued the team since the start of the season, and had been traced back to a set of parts "deviated" in quality. Monte Carlo Masters Away from the penalty list and Formula E Holdings CEO Alejandro Agag announcement that the series would be making its biannual return to Monaco in 2018/19, but with a major twist.Topher Smith, 'MONACO TO UTILISE GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT FROM 2019', e-racing.net, (e-racing.net, 02/03/2018), https://www.e-racing.net/2018/03/02/monaco-ultilise-grand-prix-circuit-2019/, (Accessed 03/03/2018) This twist came in the form of a layout change, with Agag revealing that Formula E would finally use the full Circuit de Monaco layout, effectively doubling the circuit length. This change was made to accommodate the increased performance of the Spark Gen 2, and the potential for an eleventh team to enter the series. Vergne Victorious Into the Championship and victory in Santiago had ensured that Jean-Éric Vergne moved to the top of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship hunt, the Parisian leaving Chile with 71 points to his name. Felix Rosenqvist had therefore slipped to second in spite of his excellent recovery drive, falling five behind, while Bird also lost a position as he dropped five further points back. had moved up to fourth ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr., while di Grassi left the Chilean capital as the only full-season driver yet to score in 2017/18. The historic one-two for Techeetah on the banks of the Mapocho River would be enough to nudge the Chinese squad to the top of the Teams' Standings with a two point advantage. Mahindra Racing had made way for them having extended their own advantage over DS Virgin Racing to eighteen points. Jaguar Racing remained in fourth, while three time Champions Renault e.Dams finally broke into the top five after their difficult start to the season. Entry List The full entry list for the is displayed below: Practice FP1 FP2 Qualifying There were no changes to the qualifying format in Mexico City, with the drivers split up into four groups of five, subject to Championship position, which were then randomly drawn into a running order. Each group would then have a six minute window for the drivers to set a single full power lap time, with the top five overall then progressing to Super Pole. The fastest five would then go out one-by-one to try and claim pole, with the rest of the field ordered on their results from the group stage. Group 1 The first group of the afternoon featured those drivers in the bottom five in the Championship, headlined by defending Champion Lucas di Grassi after his miserable run of reliability.'Mexico City E-Prix: pre-race roundup & podcast', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/03/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/march/mexico-city-e-prix-pre-race-roundup-podcast/, (Accessed 21/07/2018) He would be joined on circuit by two of FE's 2017/18 rookies in the form of Tom Blomqvist and Luca Filippi, as well as Maro Engel of Venturi. Completing the quintet would be Jérôme d'Ambrosio in his Dragon, with di Grassi the only one expected to challenge for Super Pole. Blomqvist was the first man out on circuit for group one, with the Brit putting together a clean effort, bar a brush with the wall exiting turn one, to record a 1:02.443, a time that was instantly beaten by d'Ambrosio.ABB Formula E, 'Qualifying - 2018 ABB FIA Formula E Mexico City E-Prix', youtube.com, (YouTube: ABB Formula E, 03/03/2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZrUF4qmwN4, (Accessed 21/07/2018) di Grassi was next across the line and duly delivered the fastest time of the group, a 1:02.079, with Engel a fraction behind having followed the Brazilian through. Filippi, meanwhile, looked set to at least match Engel's effort, but a mistake in the final sector ultimately left him at the bottom of the quintet. Group 2 Group two would see the Championship leaders, and favourites for Super Pole, head out on circuit, with all five noted for their one-lap pace. Arguably the weakest in the quintet was season one Champion Nelson Piquet Jr. in the Jaguar, which had been potent but also inconsistent. Otherwise, Jean-Éric Vergne, Felix Rosenqvist, Sam Bird and Sébastien Buemi were all expected to challenge for pole without issue. Rosenqvist was the first man out to set a time in the group, and was significantly earlier heading out onto the track than his rivals. As such the Swede would get to put in an ultra smooth lap to go fastest overall with a 1:01.676, a time that both Vergne and Bird would fall shy of. Buemi was next and duly went fastest with a 1:01.668, while Piquet snuck into the top five to knock di Grassi out of Super Pole. Group 3 The third quintet of the afternoon featured those drivers placed eleventh to fifteenth in the Championship, all of whom had had issues or made mistakes in the previous few races. As ever, Nicolas Prost was the standout name in the quintet, with many hoping he would finally rediscover his season one/two form, while Oliver Turvey and Alex Lynn both had strong quali-histories. Completing the group would be José María López and António Félix da Costa, both of whom would realistically be fighting for grid slots in the lower end of the top ten. Lynn would open the session in group three, with the Brit recording a very clean 1:01.830 to get ahead of Vergne and go third overall. da Costa then caused a stir by jumping ahead of the DS Virgin, before Turvey flashed across the line to go fourth, knocking Vernge out of Super Pole. López was next but failed to break into the top ten, as did Prost after another disappointing performance from the Frenchman. Group 4 Into the final quintet and a group that was made mostly of dark horses for Super Pole, particularly as it was made from drivers positioned sixth through to tenth in the Championship. The two favourites in the group would be Daniel Abt of Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler and André Lotterer of Techeetah, with both arriving in good form. Mitch Evans and Nick Heidfeld were slightly less likely to challenge, while Edoardo Mortara was set to be the wild card among the quintet. Abt was out onto the circuit half a minute before his rivals as the fourth group headed out, with the German getting a near-empty track to record a 1:01.885 to fall just shy of Super Pole in sixth. Evans was the closest man to him on track, almost a full lap behind, but a mistake in the first sector saw him fall well shy of the top ten. Next up was Lotterer, whose lap faded badly in the final few corners to drop him down outside the top ten, with Heidfeld and Mortara ending the session tenth and twentieth respectively. Super Pole Lynn would open the Super Pole shootout for DS Virgin, although with the knowledge that he was running with a ten place grid penalty for changing an inverter. Regardless, Lynn delivered a clean lap to record a 1:02.014, with a minor mistake at the final chicane costing him a fraction of a second at most. Turvey went next having sat on pole twelve months earlier, but the Brit ultimately lost a tenth and a half to his compatriot after a long lock-up into the first chicane. Next out on circuit would be da Costa, competing in Super Pole for the first time since the 2016 Long Beach ePrix, and duly delivered an excellent final sector to go fastest overall with a 1:01.852. Rosenqvist, meanwhile, would follow the Portuguese racer out onto the circuit, and duly took a further two tenths out of da Costa's final sector time to claim pole. Buemi went next but a lock up into turn one cost him almost half a second before his effort really got going, leaving the Swiss racer in fifth at the end of his lap. After qualifying it was revealed that da Costa's car was underweight after completing Super Pole, meaning his effort was deleted. He did, however, get to keep his group stage time, meaning the Portuguese racer would start from fourth. Post Qualifying The final qualifying results for the are outlined below: ** Both Lynn and Bird were handed ten place grid penalties for changing the gearboxes on their cars. *† da Costa excluded from the results of Super Pole after his car was found to underweight.'Rosenqvist on Pole for the 2018 Mexico City E-Prix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/03/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/march/rosenqvist-on-pole-for-the-2018-mexico-city-e-prix/, (Accessed 04/03/2018) *‡ di Grassi given a ten place grid penalty for changing the inverters in his car. Race It was a warn 27°C by the time the Formula E field were pushed onto the "dummy grid" ahead of the start, with no major issues for any of the twenty starters.ABB Formula E, '2018 Mexico City E-Prix (Season 4 - Race 5) - Full Race | ABB FIA Formula E Championship', youtube.com, (YouTube, 15/05/2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucfitkF6lDY, (Accessed 21/07/2018) Indeed, the only issues for those on the grid would be the temperature, with the thinner air of Mexico City meaning that cooling could be an issue towards the end of each stint. That, however, would be an issue for later in the day, with pole sitter Felix Rosenqvist leading the field onto the proper grid for the start without issue. Report A relatively tame start to the E-Prix saw Rosenqvist make a perfect getaway from the grid, the Swede shooting into the first corner without issue. Oliver Turvey was therefore left to fend off Sébastien Buemi, just managing to cut across the nose of the Renault e.Dams, while Daniel Abt charged around the outside of António Félix da Costa for fourth. The rest of the field followed through without any issues. The rest of the opening lap also proved to be a quiet affair, bar an attempt by Jean-Éric Vergne to overtake both Nelson Piquet Jr. and da Costa at the chicane. The Frenchman made the move stick on Piquet on the exit, meaning he would complete the opening tour in sixth behind da Costa. Ahead, Rosenqvist continued to lead from Turvey, Buemi and Abt, with a small gap back to Vergne's next target da Costa already beginning to expand through lap two. The following laps would see the fight out front become a stalemate, with Rosenqvist unable to break away from Turvey, while Buemi and Abt remained a threat just behind. da Costa, meanwhile, was putting up a valiant defence from Vergne and Piquet, with all three chased by Mitch Evans once the Kiwi dived past André Lotterer into turn one at the start of lap three. It was fairly tame at the back of the field too, with Lucas di Grassi and Sam Bird still at the back of the field, largely due to the lack of overtaking opportunities around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The da Costa defence ultimately failed on lap five, with Vergne getting a run on the Portuguese racer into turn six before diving up the inside for fifth. The Frenchman then ran the Andretti out wide on the exit, effectively gifting Piquet sixth place as the Brazilian shot past da Costa. Those two duly went charging off after the top four, leaving da Costa to fight with Evans and Lotterer. Elsewhere, di Grassi finally made some progress, diving past Luca Filippi into turn one at the start of lap six, a move which forced the Italian to run wide. That fact allowed Edoardo Mortara to get up the inside of the NIO, but as the pair braked for the chicane both got out of shape. Filippi had to abandon mission and cut the chicane, a decision which meant that he had to come to a complete stop before rejoining, while Mortara scrambled across the kerbs but kept his Venturi on the circuit. He therefore held onto seventeenth, while Filippi rejoined behind Maro Engel and Sam Bird. Back with the leaders and Rosenqvist was beginning to establish a lead over Turvey, pulling over a second and a half clear by lap eight. Turvey himself was also running in clear air, over a second clear of Buemi behind, for the Swiss Champion was under heavy pressure from Abt, Vergne and Piquet. That quartet was slowly pulling clear of Evans in seventh, while in the queue that ran from ninth to thirteenth Alex Lynn made a move stick on Nick Heidfeld into turn one. With Rosenqvist beginning to inch himself clear well before the pitwindow it seemed inevitable that he would go on and win the race, with Turvey simply unable to match his pace. Then, moments before completing the fourteenth lap, Rosenqvist's Mahindra ground to halt at the pit entry, with the Swede frantically trying to restart it. Turvey swept through to take the lead, with the entire field also charging past before Rosenqvist got going again, having just received his first FanBoost win. Rosenqvist's drama meant that Turvey inherited a commanding lead over the chasing pack, with almost four seconds between him and Buemi as Rosenqvist came to a stop again on lap seventeen. Buemi himself was unable to push on for Abt, Vergne and Piquet were queued up behind him, while Evans moved past da Costa for sixth, hoping to catch the second placed scrap. So it continued for the following laps, while Rosenqvist, having stopped out on circuit for a third time, ultimately deciding to swap to his second car on lap twenty. As attention turned to Rosenqvist's very early change, Abt dived past Buemi for second, having saved enough energy in the closing stages of the first stint to make a late charge. The German's sprint came three laps before the first of the significant stops, allowing him to take almost a second a lap out of Turvey as the leaders came towards the pitwindow. Sam Bird was another making a late charge but stopped early on lap 22, while Lynn led José María López, , Heidfeld and Mortara in on lap 23. A lap later and Turvey led the rest of the field in, with only Piquet and di Grassi managing to make it to lap 25 before stopping. It was here that the decisive move was made, for the experience of Audi's near twenty years in endurance racing saw them get Abt in and out of the pits in under forty seconds. That, combined with his late charge ensured that the German leapfrogged Turvey on pit out, while Vergne likewise took Buemi. When Piquet and di Grassi stopped and rejoined, having both lost a position, the order now stood with Abt leading from Turvey, Vergne and Buemi, those three running nose-to-tail. Next up was Evans, chasing them hard, while Piquet tagged onto the back of his teammate, knowing that he had an extra lap's worth of energy to fight with in the second half of the race. Then came Lotterer, about to be slapped with a penalty after hitting one of his crew members in the pits, with Lynn, da Costa, who made a mistake into turn one on his in lap, and Bird completing the top ten. Turvey came under huge pressure from Vergne immediately after the stops, his woes partially blamed on the fact that Nicolas Prost had come in just as the Brit was leaving his pitbox, effectively meaning he had to wait for the Frenchman to pass. Regardless, a small mistake into the Peraltada chicane almost gave Vergne a shot at passing the NIO into turn one, but the Brit just managed to stay clear. That allowed Buemi to close to within striking distance, with the Swiss race duly charging past the Frenchman with the aid of FanBoost on the following lap. As they battled it was all over for Mahindra as Heidfeld crawled to a stop just after pit entry, a water pump failure ending his afternoon prematurely. The German restarted his car and made it back to the pits to retire, while Rosenqvist carried on for a short while before he depleted the energy in his second car. They would soon be joined on the sidelines by Prost, whose day was ended in a coming together with Bird at the first chicane that broke the Frenchman's steering. Elsewhere, di Grassi was making life difficult for himself while fighting to get into the points, locking his rears badly enough while challenging López that the Argentine's teammate d'Ambrosio was able to pass the pair of them. Piquet, in contrast, was doing the opposite, cruising past teammate Evans on lap 33, while Buemi began to launch a sustained attack on Turvey, slowing them both. That allowed Vergne and Piquet to close right onto the back of them a lap later, with the Brazilian the best placed given his usable energy advantage. A lap later and Piquet went diving past Vergne into turn one without much resistance, the Frenchman hoping that the Brazilian would elbow his way past both Buemi and Turvey and open the door for him in the process. All this allowed Abt to inch away a little further ahead, his advantage up to six seconds with ten laps to go, just as Bird and Prost came together to end the latter's race. Turvey, meanwhile, was still keeping Buemi at bay, while di Grassi used FanBoost and his energy reserve to blast past the two Dragons for twelfth. Into the closing stages and di Grassi breached the top ten, elbowing his way past Engel for eleventh moments before Lotterer served his drive-through penalty. Unfortunately for Engel, di Grassi's aggressive move not only ran him wide but also damaged his rear wing, effectively ending any chance the German had of a points finish. He would slowly tumble down the order as the race came towards its conclusion, while di Grassi jetted off after Lynn without any repercussions. Back with the fight for second and Buemi threw a half-move at Turvey at the start of the penultimate tour, locking up all four wheels as he did so to try and avoid the Brit. Turvey also locked up, seemingly in sympathy for the Swiss racer, but both managed to hold onto their positions as a mistake a lap earlier had cost Piquet a couple of tenths. Their fight would continue on into the final lap, with Buemi leaping over the kerbs of the Peraltada chicane to try and get a run on the NIO. It was not to be, however, and six seconds after Abt cruised home to claim his first ever E-Prix victory, it was Turvey who finished second ahead of Buemi, with Piquet and Vergne within touching distance of the podium. Evans cruised home in sixth ahead of da Costa and Mortara, while di Grassi's late charge saw him take Lynn on the final lap for ninth. The two Dragons were next, d'Ambrosio ahead of López, while Filippi, a low-key Tom Blomqvist, Engel and Bird all made it to the chequered flag. Result The final classification of the is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold: * Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race. Milestones * Third E-Prix held in Mexico City. * Fifth pole position for Felix Rosenqvist. * Daniel Abt claimed his first victory in Formula E. * Seventh triumph for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler as an entrant. ** First victory for Audi as a constructor. * Maiden podium finish for Oliver Turvey. * claimed his twentieth podium visit. Standings The maiden victory for Daniel Abt in Mexico City propelled the German into the top six, although he was still someway shy of Championship leader Jean-Éric Vergne. The Frenchman left the Mexican capital with 81 points to his name, and, after Felix Rosenqvist's miserable afternoon, had effectively seen his Championship lead grow to twelve points. Sam Bird, meanwhile, slipped twenty points behind and was well in the sights of , while Nelson Piquet Jr. maintained his place in the top five. Elsewhere Techeetah had retained their lead in the Team's Championship in Mexico, just a point shy of the 100 point mark with more than half the season still to go. Mahindra Racing's issues on Saturday meant that fell nine points back, while a double score for Jaguar Racing carried them past DS Virgin Racing an into third. Elsewhere Renault e.Dams made ground in fifth, just ahead of arch-rivals Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, after their first victory of the season. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:2017/18 ePrix Category:Mexico City ePrix Category:EPrix articles